Former England footballers Danny Mills and Andy Cole added some glitz and glamour to the £220 buy-in 888 Live Local London Main Event in Aspers Casino, Stratford, as 888Poker announce a 12-month branding deal with the London poker room.

888Poker, the world’s second largest online poker room, have inked a deal with Aspers Casino, Stratford. The 12-month deal will see 888Poker branding adorn the poker room walls, and a series of monthly events held to promote live poker. The deal is similar to the one partypoker struck with the Nottingham card room and casino Dusk till Dawn (DTD).

The announcement came during the kick off for their 888 Local Live Tour. The £220 buy-in Main Event attracted 590 players. They smashed the £50,000 guarantee with £116,820 heading into the coffers.

“It’s a twelve-month partnership we’ve agreed to cross promote live poker with online poker. Because of how strong 888 are in the UK market it made sense to do the partnership with them. There are a lot of synergies between Aspers and our mind set in how we see poker developing in the future.” Said John Scanlon, Head of Poker at Aspers Casino.

The newest 888Poker ambassador, Kara Scott, joined her teammates Dominik Nitsche and Sofia Lovgren for the first time at an event. It was a fantastic start for Scott in her new colours finishing third for a £10,250 score.

Third in the #888live for just over £10k. No trophy this time but I had lots of fun

Ralph Baylor took the lot. He picked up the £22,500 first prize, and a $2,200 Vegas Experience package. 888Poker are the official sponsors of the 2016 World Series of Poker (WSOP), and Baylor will be hoping to turn that freebie into a bracelet.

There was also a prize for local player Adrian Binisan Petru, who picked up a brand spanking new PlayStation 4 for being the first player to win a hand with a full house of eights or better. The iPhone 6 offered for the first Royal Flush remains in the cupboard.

The stars of UK football also came out in support of the festival. Former England stars Danny Mills and Andy Cole played in a unique Turbo event alongside all of the 888Poker ambassadors and a selected few from the media.

Final Table Results

1st. Ralph Baylor – £22,500

2nd. Bernard Okyere-Sasu – £16,000

3rd. Kara Scott – £10,250

4th. Hugues Lavieu – £7,600

5th. Amar Al Hussona – £5,690

6th. Shah Raza – £4,570

7th. Robert Norman – £3,790

8th. Enzo Del Piero – £3,020

9th. Luke Burton – £2,270

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